Friedlander: If this is only the starting point for Duke basketball, I can't wait to see the finished product
DURHAM, NC – Bobby Hurley knows what a championship-caliber basketball team looks like. He played on 2 of them at Duke as the point guard for back-to-back national championships in 1991-92.
So while it’s easy to get carried away and resort to hyperbole after 1, albeit impressive, exhibition performance a week before the regular season begins, the Arizona State coach’s assessment of his alma mater’s current team shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“They have a lot of good pieces,” Hurley said. “I’ve seen a lot of good teams over the years and I think they’ve got a chance to be really good.”
The Blue Devils are already “really good.”
They showed off their talent, depth, versatility and energy on Sunday in a 103-47 manhandling of the Sun Devils in a charity exhibition game designed to welcome Hurley back to Cameron Indoor Stadium and raise money for Duke Children’s Hospital.
Duke shot 53.5%, recovered from a 2-of-11 start to make 17-of-34 3-pointers, won the rebounding battle by a 47-31 margin and forced 18 turnovers in administering the kind of beatdown usually reserved for low-major directional schools.
Not a member of the Big 12.
And the Blue Devils did it with arguably their best player, projected No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg, contributing only 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in just over 20 minutes of court time.
If this was only the starting point, one can only imagine how much better Jon Scheyer’s team has the potential to be come March. The ceiling is so high that freshman center Khaman Maluach, who has a standing reach measured at 9-foot-8, can’t even touch it.
7’2 Duke Freshman From South Sudan, Khaman Maluach in his 2nd Exhibition game vs ASU..
8 PTS (4-7 FG)
12 REBS
2 BLKS
1 STL
1 ASTHow we feeling about bro potential, we like what we’re seeing so far?? pic.twitter.com/93Tbb8OJFl
— Frankie Vision (@Frankie_Vision) October 28, 2024
Maluach, who played for South Sudan at the Paris Olympics, is part of the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class that also includes fellow 5-star prospect Kon Knueppel. Both showed on Sunday that they’re ready to make significant, immediate contributions.
Heat Check de Kon Knuppel face à Arizona state
🎯19 PTS
⚒️5 REB
🍭 4 PADHo… et le tout à 6/11 au tir et 4/8 à 3PTS🫣
pic.twitter.com/L7jm27ZWT8#basketball #NCAA #NBA— Prospect Sport (@ProspectSport23) October 28, 2024
But while Knueppel wowed the Cameron Crazies with his 3-point shooting prowess by going 4-of-8 from long range and Maluach displayed the kind of rim-protecting defensive force last year’s Blue Devils lacked, the most impressive aspect of the blowout victory is the way a team with only 2 returning scholarship players fit together.
“My biggest thing is how hard we played and how connected we were,” Scheyer said.
While the cohesiveness the Blue Devils displayed against Arizona State is unusual for this early in the season, especially for a team still trying to figure out what it has and who it is, it’s not a surprise to Scheyer.
It’s exactly what he had in mind when he began putting the roster together in the spring.
Scheyer already had a dynamic veteran backcourt with holdovers Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster to go with that star-studded 6-man recruiting class. So instead of trying to build a fantasy lineup by going after the highest-rated players on the transfer portal, the third-year coach brought in carefully selected players capable of filling specific roles.
Maliq Brown, a member of the 2024 ACC All-Defensive team from Syracuse, was brought in to rebound and help defend the post. Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Mason Gillis from national runner-up Purdue was added for his toughness and winning mentality. Sion James came from Tulane to provide backcourt depth and instant offense off the bench.
“It was all about fit for us,” Scheyer said. “It was all about understanding. You have to come here to earn it. You can’t be given something.”
That’s a philosophy the current Duke coach learned from his predecessor Mike Krzyzewski and is the foundation upon which the Blue Devils’ success has been built.
“For me, this was a time to get back to the roots of the value of our program, which is about competing,” Scheyer said. “It’s about being all-in and then going to earn what you want individually.”
Scheyer wasn’t the only coach at Cameron on Sunday raised on that philosophy.
Hurley was, too.
The older brother of 2-time defending national champion coach Dan Hurley of UConn, he helped Coach K plant the roots Scheyer mentioned by helping to hang a pair of championship banners – along with his retired No. 11 – to the rafters of Duke’s legendary arena.
His return, which included a rousing ovation from the Blue Devils faithful and a heartfelt hug from Krzyzewski during a pregame ceremony, helped him feel as though he never left.
Even though it was his first visit to Cameron in 3 decades.
The return of a legend.
Check out Duke's full tribute to Bobby Hurley. pic.twitter.com/qNvi5opmWH
— Blake Niemann (@Blakes_Take2) October 28, 2024
Hurley, wearing his 1992 national championship ring for the occasion. explained his prolonged absence by saying that he just didn’t feel comfortable returning to the site of his glory days without being out on the court playing.
“I never wanted to come back here because it was so good to me,” he said.
It was good to him again Sunday. At least until the game started.
After going 119-26 with 3 Final Four appearances in his 4 seasons at Duke, the NCAA’s all-time assists leader finally got to experience what it’s like to be on the other side of the Cameron experience.
“I’ve been here long enough to know that what just happened has happened before and that it could happen to me,” he said of the lopsided final margin. “And it did.”
Hurley was philosophical about the beatdown, primarily because it was only an exhibition game.
But he can also take solace in the knowledge that his Sun Devils are only the first of many to suffer a similar fate against a “really good” Duke team that’s only going to get better.
Is Duke in the SEC?
Apparently you didn’t watch Arkansas dismantle the top-ranked Jayhawks.